Noemaan Farooq Butt

Findings — machine-extracted (anthropic-batch:claude-opus-4-8); verify against the decision

The Applicant, who had been struck off the Roll in February 2015, lodged an Application in June 2025 under Rule 55(b) of the SSDT Rules 2024 to have his name restored to the Roll. The Law Society lodged objections and, after taking legal advice, the Applicant sought to withdraw his Application. The Law Society disputed the competency of withdrawal and moved for expenses. The Tribunal held that the Applicant had a right to withdraw, subject to the overriding objective under Rule 4, but concluded that neither the 1980 Act (Schedule 4) nor the 2024 Rules gave it power to award expenses in Applications for Restoration (a gap to be filled by the Regulation of Legal Services (Scotland) Act 2025). The Tribunal allowed the withdrawal and refused the Law Society's motion for expenses. This decision concerned procedure only; no findings of professional misconduct or dishonesty were made.